Saturday, 8 April 2017

An epic journey - Samoa 2016

I hope you don't mind travelling back in time with me for a few posts, I didn't get a chance to blog while I was away in Samoa last year as our days were very busy so I thought I'd do a year on (like I did with the USA) mind you, its crept up on me quicker than I thought 😮

Back in November 2015 I attended a training evening based around the islands of the South Pacific. I was sitting next to Alison from the Samoa Tourism Authority whom I'd met before at another event, she knew about my love of rugby and that I wanted to visit the South Pacific, anyway, as normal with these things there's a little prize draw after dinner, and there's usually a good selection of goodie bags, wine, accommodation and fam trip places up for grabs. Alison's prize was accommodation in Samoa and guess who won?! Yey!!
Alison later explained I could swap my accommodation for a place on the Tourism Exchange which was taking place the following April. I said I'd love to and that was that.

So on April 6th 2016 I caught the train from Newcastle to London for the first 247 miles of my "epic journey"; as Samoa is on the dateline, I suppose it's the furthest place from home without leaving the planet! The sun was shining in London when I arrived at Kings Cross...

I made my way over to Heathrow and enjoyed a night in the Travelodge before getting up bright and early the next morning to head over to the airport to meet Alison and the group and set off on leg 2.
Blimey, these places work like clockwork 24 hours a day I really don't know why I was worrying so much. A couple of minutes on the hoppa bus to terminal 5 and then I was on the Heathrow Express to terminal 2 eating my "grab 'n' go" breakfast of tea and a croissant. Just a few minutes later and I was at the check in desks :)

Now, meeting up with friends and family isn't too stressful as you know what they look like, however, meeting a group of people you've never clapped eyes on is a bit of a nightmare! Alison arrived and we checked in together as everyone else had already gone through. A quick meet and greet with Elizabeth, Hannah and Nicole at the gate and before we knew it we were called for boarding...

I've not flown Singapore Airlines before and know they are one of the best so was looking forward to this...

the view from seat 53A of a dull and rainy London...

I was quite impressed by the room in economy (even though business class was almost empty we weren't important enough for an upgrade lol) and we were given a little amenities kit - not had one in economy before, and I got acquainted with the entertainment system before the drinks trolley came around. I had the whole row to myself so I popped my feet up and read my book before stretching out and having a snooze...

The food trolley woke me up and I enjoyed my shiitake mushrooms and vegetables in ginger sauce with fried rice. Film time "The Lady in the Van" followed by a bit of crochet, another film "Star Wars" and some more sleep and before I knew it, we were somewhere over the Andaman Sea and the breakfast trolley was doing the rounds and the eggs Benedict were delicious...

Time to watch one more film (Suffragette) from my planner before landing.

That was the longest leg of 6747 miles done. We didn't have too long to wait in Singapore airport but had a wander around the shops and got to know each other a bit more.

The Sydney flight was around 8 hours (covering 3915 miles) and as it co-incided with UK night time I wanted to try and catch up on a bit of sleep to help me adjust to the 12 hour time difference. I checked my watch and realised I'd been on the go for 24 hours just as the captain announced we were flying over Ayres Rock - typical I was on the wrong side of the aircraft! On the way into Sydney the sun was shining high above the clouds...

We met up with the other members of the group who had come from various other destinations across Europe so it was nice to finally have us all together :)

It was dark when we left Sydney for the final leg of our epic journey. Only 2697 mile to go and we would be in Samoa!!!